Massive slowdowns when using Airport Extreme

Hi everyone,
I'm pulling my hair out over this problem. I have a 50/5 cable connection which deteriorates in an unacceptable manner as soon as I connect to the web wirelessly using my almost brand new Airport Extreme Base station (bought this August). I have an Ubee EVM 3200 cable modem, and as long as I plug my laptop directly into it, I get the advertised speeds and pings at around 20 ms. However, as soon as I involve my Airport Extreme, everything falls apart: my downstream drops to about 25Mbits (sometimes lower) and my ping goes up to 40-50 ms. Upload speeds remain intact, for some reason.
Now, the base station is situated about five meters from my Macbook Pro and signal strength is supposedly very good. Even if I sit down right next to it, my speeds are still only half of what I should be getting. I also tried pingtest.net, which wasn't even able to test for packet loss. So, what am I doing wrong here? Is my Airport broken? Is there some kind of problem between the Airport Base Station and the modem? Or am I just stupid and there's some trivial setting that's causing all this?
I've already tried this fix: http://discussions.apple.com/messag...321416#11321416
It vastly improved my ping (to about 20, where it should normally be), but speeds are still terrible.
I'd be very grateful to hear your comments.

The picture did not load, but I assume that it displays the signal strength of about 68% that you mention. Are there other networks displayed as well?
Users are very confused about signal strength. They see 5 "bars" on the Airport icon at the top of the computer screen and think that is 100%, 4 bars = 80%, etc. +The "bars" are there just for show+. As you may now have guessed, they tell you nothing about the actual signal strength or noise on the network.
Your AirPort Extreme radiates a signal primarily in an upward spherical pattern from the device...360% degrees, so the signal goes all over the place like an expanding balloon. Some of the signal is absorbed by any close obstructions...a wall, ceiling, cabinet, etc. This cannot be avoided.
A reading of 68% represents a very strong signal. If you think about it, it would be impossible for the computer to receive 100% of the signal that is radiated when a third of it, on average, is absorbed by any nearby obstructions.
But there is more, and it can get complicated. You need to use the Inspector feature (Edit menu) of iStumbler to calculate a much more important measurement than signal strength alone. You need to calculate the Signal to Noise Ratio, or SNR. This is the most useful measurement that you can use to evaluate the quality of a wireless signal. Post back if you want to work through this.

Similar Messages

Airport Extreme: Internet working when directly from modem to computer, but not when using airport extreme. i have hit the reset pin and now do not know what to do.

Using Airport Extreme:
- Internet working when directly from modem to computer
- Internet NOT working when modem is connected to AE
- Internet NOT working when modem is connected to AE and AE is connected to computer
- I have hit the reset pin
Now what do I do?
(in advance - lots of love to anyone who helps out)

What sort of Internet connection do you have and who is your Internet Service Provider?
What is the make and model number of your modem?

Can't share files on a removable hard drive when using Airport Extreme

I connected a removable hard drive to the USB port on the Airport Extreme. I can see the hard drive under Disks in Airport Utility, but cannot view or share the files.
Note: I can share the files when I am connected directly to my MacBook Pro USB port.
Please help.

I have enabled file sharing.
I tried going to afp://10.0.1.1 but get a connection error. I may be doing it wrong. How do I get the proper IP to use?
Thanks

Kernel Panics when using Airport Extreme Card...I think

So I have been to the Apple store 7 times in the last three days...here are the problems I've been having and what they've done. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
All of a sudden I started having Kernel Panic crashes (a least 5 a day.) Seemed to mostly happen when I was browsing (using Firefox.) Also I would usually experience an intermittent connection to the internet before a crash. (i.e. I would be browsing, then the connection would be lost...I'd turn off Airport...turn back on...then a few minutes later while browsing...crash)
Here is what I've done:
- At first we thought it was software...after two erase/install, that wasn't it.
- Maybe the new RAM from OWC...re-sat the RAM, took RAM out and replaced with factory RAM...had OWC send new RAM, that wasn't it.
- Maybe it is logic board, factory RAM, or Airport Extreme card...Apple replaced today...and THAT wasn't it.
- Got home after all these new parts and it crashed again while browsing wirelessly. So, I thought, "Could my Qwest wireless network be doing this!?!?!"
Have tried some different settings with Qwest and am awaiting another crash.
Does anyone have any idea what else I could try? (2 erase and installs, a new logic board, new RAM, new AE card, didn't do it!)
I so appreciate any help or advice. I'm in the middle of a couple of major projects and cannot bear to go back to the Apple store for an 8th time!
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9) Purchased as refurb. - but has new logic board, new RAM (2gb), new AE card
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.9)

I don't have any solutions, but I had been reading about some folks having airport related kernel panics in the MacBook discussion forum. As a matter of fact, I had a kernel panic a little while back on my MacBook, and the crash log pointed to some issues with airport drivers. Here is what Macfixit says about these drivers and I quote:
"Bad built-in hardware (including hard drives) Repeated kernel panics can be the result of incompatible, damaged or misconfigured built-in hardware. This includes built in AirPort, Bluetooth and other networking hardware, corrupt or damaged hard drives, faulty processors and more. Examine your crash log (as discussed in our tutorial "An introduction to reading Mac OS X crash reports") for clues as to which device is implicated.
Sometimes the fix is as simple as re-seating built-in hardware. Make sure any PCI, PCI Express, AirPort and other expansion-type hardware is firmly and properly seated in its appropriate port.
In other cases, the fix involves attacking the problem at a driver or kernel extension level. Again, examine your crash reports and look for components specifically linked to certain hardware. For instance, the following Mac OS X components are all used by Apple AirPort hardware, and can be implicated (by crash logs) in kernel panics:
com.apple.driver.AirPortAtheros5424(100.21)
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily(1.5.0)
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(1.9)
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family(110.19)
After determining device-specific components, you can try re-installing them -- either by performing an "Archive and Install" of Mac OS X, or downloading and manually placing items."
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060911080447777

Certain web address not available when using Airport Extreme Base Station

Hello. To access my "secure" account at the local library, I must use a web address that contains a colon followed by a number. I believe that this is a port number, but I confess that all the discussions here regarding ports are going well over my head, and I may be incorrect with this assumption.
My problem is that while I CAN access this site by connecting to my DSL router directly via ethernet cable from my iMac G5, I cannot access the site when connecting to the internet in the mode: iMac Airport to Airport Extreme Base Station to DSL router via ethernet.
The format of the web address is: http://xxxx.yyyy.net:####/zzzzz/, where #### is the number I guess may be specifying a port and causing my problem.
Can anyone advise me, in simple terms, how to get to this address when in the Airport--internet connection mode? Will the solution have any adverse side effects?
Regards and Thanks
iMac G5, 2.5 year old AEBS Mac OS X (10.3.9) Westell 327W 4-port DSL Modem, not using wireless feature.

Very likely the embedded firewall that comes with your AirPort blocks the port you are trying to use.
In order to solve this, best way is to modify the AirPort settings (open the AirPort maintenance app):
Click at the tab "port forwarding" and add the desired port as "public port" to the list. "private IP" is the IP of your Mac and for "private port" type in the port number again.
If you are unsure about the IP of your Mac, look at the network maintenance application.
Well, one side-effect is that you have an open port in your configuration which could cause security issues... but only if you are paranoid So there is nothing to care about (note that without the AirPort inbetween your Mac and your modem, this port would be not blocked and freely accessible

Printer Problems "Network host is busy" when using Airport Extreme

I have an Airport Extreme wireless network. It is connected to a brand new HP Laserjet and my network consists of 1 MacBook Pro also running Parallels and Windows XP as a virtual machine, 3 PC Laptops (running XP) and a PC desktop (running XP).
The printer is an HP Laserjet 2727. I just installed it last week with new drivers. I ran test pages from all the pcs and the mac and everything seemed to work fine until I get up the next morning.
Everyday when I go to use the printer, there's something wrong with it and I have power it and the wireless down and back up again.
One error I keep getting is "Network host is busy, will retry in x seconds". Other times I get nothing, it just sits there doing nothing. Again I have to power everything back down and up again and then go recheck each computer and run tests from each.
I work from home, I can't keep doing this every couple of hours. HELP!

Hi B, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Mac OS X: About the Reset Printing System feature ...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1341?viewlocale=en_US
Might try Printer Setup Repair 5.1 first though...
http://www.fixamac.net/software/index.html

ITunes cuts out when using Airport Extreme - what's going on here

I have a Powerbook G4 with both Airport Extreme (hooked into Comcast internet through ethernet) and Airport Express (hooked into stereo in the next room).
Where I used to live had the same set-up and had full 4 bars of reception. I moved this past weekend and had Comcast internet set up again in a different city (same set-up though)
Now I have maybe 2 bars of strength on the Airport Extreme and when playing music on the Airport Express it plays for maybe 5-6 seconds, cuts off, then comes back on. This cycle repeats.
When I hooked the ethernet directly into the Airport Express the music worked just fine.
Is the Airport Extreme dying on me? Please help.
Thanks

Thanks - went to the Extreme and Express and turned on interference robustness. This helped in that now I have all 4 bars of signal strength.
Still getting the cut-off on the ITunes though. Have gotten the "error 3256" twice now and Itunes freezes. Looked it up online and it said the cause is a 3rd party router or firewall - I dont believe I am using either. Error 3256 means something is blocking the UDP traffic which causes the Itunes to turn off and on.
Am very frustrated Itunes wont work. Its only 15 feet from the Extreme Base Station. I moved the 5.8ghz cordless phone (8 feet away)and the Comcast VOIP phone modem (10 feet away in closed closet) but to no avail.

Internet slow when using airport extreme

First off I don't understand the intricacies of networking at all.
THat said when I connect my macbook pro to the modem directly I get around 15meg download using a speedtest website.
Using the wireless I'm lucky to get 2meg. It's an airport extreme dome so it's more than capable of handling the speed.(right?) I assume the built in wireless card in the MBPro is equally capable.
So, is there anything I can do to improve things? I live in an apartment where there are many wirelses networks if that's relevant.

Well I seemed to have improved this dramatically by changing the security to WPA2. But that has created a problem with my powerbook as it cannot see the network.
I'm guessing that's a problem with the powerbook's airport card?? Can I update this?

D I need the firewall on in my Mac when using Airport extreme base station?

Hi all;
Just wondering if it's necessary to turn on the firewall in my Mac when using the AEBS.
AEBS is connected to the net and then my Mac connects to AEBS.
There's already a firewall built-in as I understand it.
Thanks.

The operation of NAT and DHCP on the AEBS will prevent someone from the Internet directly accessing your Mac.
Enabling the firewall on your Mac would add some protection against someone local wirelessly accessing your Mac.

File sharing problem between XP and MAC when using Airport Extreme

I recently got a Time Machine to replace my flaky Linksys Wireless N router and since I've done that I can't connect to my PC running Windows XP and was able to before. I have made sure my firewall settings are correct and have gone through many different settings on Time Machine but still no luck.
I have my PC directly connected via ethernet to the Time Machine and my Mac is wireless. I'm able to ping the IP address of the Mac from my PC but can't ping in the opposite way.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!

btw the error is
"Attempting to copy to the disk "Guy_s iPod" failed. The file name was invalid."
and then it says
"The iPod "Guy's iPod II" cannot be updated. The disk could not be read or written to."

How do you use Airport extreme at hotels etc, when traveling? I can plug my computer into the Airport with my ethernet but how does Airport pickup signal?

How do you use Airport extreme at hotels etc, when traveling? I can plug my computer into the Airport with my ethernet but how does Airport pickup signal? What equipment & devices do I need to travel with to make this possible?

You may mean the AirPort Express.....not AirPort Extreme.....as the Express is a popular travel router.
The whole idea behind using this device is that the hotel must provide an Ethernet jack in the hotel room. Then you connect the AirPort Express to the Ethernet jack with an Ethernet cable and configure it to provide your own wireless network in the room. You still have to agree to terms, pay the fees, etc.
The problem with this approach is that it is getting very difficult to find hotels in North America that prrovide an Ethernet jack....most have moved to wireless networks and the others are not far behind.
So, if the hotel is already providing a wireless signal, the AirPort Express is of no use in that situation.
If you normally stay at the same hotels, and know that they provide Ethernet ports, an AirPort Express might make sense in terms of convenience.

How do I use Airport Extreme to limit internet time for my kids? His computer is hardwired to the modem.

How do I use Airport Extreme to limit internet time for my kids? His computer is hardwired to the modem.

You can set up daily time limits for each computer that connects using wireless, but it is not possible to do this when a computer is connecting directly using a wired Ethernet connection.
Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility on your Mac and click Manual Setup
Click the Access Control tab below the icons
Select Timed Access
For more details on this, click the Help menu at the top of the screen and enter the following phrase into the search box:
Controlling access to your wireless network
A more sophisticated approach would be to use a service provided by OpenDNS. From your computer, this would allow you to monitor web sites visited, and block any unsuitable sites. More info is here:
http://www.opendns.com/landings/familyshield

Network set up using airport extreme, time capsule and airport express

I have searched for relevant answers but can only find different bits here and there.
My set up is as follows:
I have a Linksys wireless router running a stable wireless network for the other computer users in the house and wish to create an extended, additional network using airport extreme connected to the Linksys by ethernet to create the network and then time capsule close to my Mac Mini on my desktop and airport express at the other end of the house to try and extend the range of the network.
I have been trying for 4 days to set this up but without success. I have tried all of the options mentioned in different posts, using WDS, extending a new network etc. I can get connection between the three devices but monitoring on iStumbler there appears to be little improvement in the strength of the signal, iStumbler also shows the time capsule dropping it's signal totally every 10 or so seconds for a few seconds and then I get a positive signal strength for another ten seconds or so.
Can anyone help, it is driving me insane. I am a recent convert to apple computing and have been hugely impressed with all products until now. The claim that the set up of these wireless products is simple seems to be very exaggerated.
I am happy to provide any relevant system or hardware information.
Thanks in anticipation.

I have an AirPort Extreme acting as a wireless base station, connected to a BT router by ethernet.
Then the correct setting for Connection Sharing on the AirPort Extreme would be "Off (Bridge Mode)".
If I set Connection Sharing to "Share a public IP address", I'm told that: "The DCHP range you have entered conflicts with the WAN IP address of your Apple Wi-Fi base station"
Exactly. You have two routers....The BT device and the AirPort Extreme in series with both of them trying to act as the "main" router when you configure the AirPort this way. That won't work.
Only one can be the main router, and it must be the BT device in your setup. So, the AirPort Extreme....and any other AirPorts on your network must be setup to work in Bridge Mode to allow the network to operate correctly.

I currently use Airport Extreme Wanting to extend using another apple airport express

How to set up Airport Express when already using Airport Extreme to extend range.

Extending the range of an 802.11n network
AirPort Utility makes it simple to extend the range of an 802.11n network if you are connecting another 802.11n base station. Connecting two 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Stations greatly simplifies the WDS setup process.
To extend the range of an 802.11n network:
Open AirPort Utility and select the base station that will connect to the Internet.
Choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu, or double-click the base station to open the configuration in a separate window. Enter the base station password if necessary.
Click AirPort in the toolbar, and then click Wireless.
Choose “Create a wireless network” from the Wireless Mode pop-up menu, and then select the “Allow this network to be extended” checkbox.
Next, select the base station that will extend this network, and choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu, or double-click the base station to open its configuration in a separate window. Enter the base station password if necessary.
Choose “Extend a wireless network” from the Wireless Mode pop-up menu, and then choose the network you want to extend from the Network Name pop-up menu.
Enter the network name and wireless password if necessary.
Click Update to update the base station with new network settings.

How to rename my network; using Airport Extreme

I would like to rename my wireless network and guest network. I am using Airport Extreme, and have extended the network using an Airport Express. Can someone tell me how to rename these, and what problems I might run into when I try to use Wi-Fi devices after I've done that?

Welcome to the discussion area, Cindyluhu!
You would use AirPort Utility to change the name of your wireless network. It will be relatively easy to change the name on the AirPort Extreme...4-5 clicks and Update
In order to change the name on the Express, you'll need to "hard reset" it and reconfigure it. Not too difficult if you have done this before.
If you change the name of the wireless network, you will need to enter the password to connect to the network the first time that you log on with any of your devices. If you have them set to "remember" the network, you won't have to enter the password again unless you make another change to the network name or password.
Post back if you need some steps to change the wireless network name on your devices.

Massive slowdowns when using Airport Extreme

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for